Preparations, adjustments and measures taken to maintain the start of the new academic year

15 May 2020

Faced with the high uncertainty that weighs on the coming months, the School’s International Relations Office has worked to secure the study and career paths of future international students, who represent nearly a third of the school’s student body today.

While it is very difficult to predict whether university campuses in France would be open to welcoming students by September 2020, the international service has nevertheless been working on new solutions allowing students to integrate the courses virtually initially and on providing support, at a distance, for foreign students who would like (or should) benefit from this possibility.

The transformation of the entirety of the courses to distance-based has been running smoothly since the closure of the university campus due to the lockdown introduced by the French government since mid-March. This approach has allowed hundreds of students to continue following the courses online, regardless of their location as nearly half of international students decided to go back to their home countries throughout the duration of the outbreak.

International students will be allowed to start their first semester this September through distance learning, if the circumstances eventually require so. The courses of the first semester, as well all the services of the School, are going to continue to adapt and evolve to secure a rich virtual learning and study experience. High level of support is going to be provided to those students to maximize the benefit of those courses and guarantee the student satisfaction. Access to the school resources, integration sessions, virtual campus visits and online activities are going to be organized to provide students with a ‘real-life’ vision of the life on campus.

In case the campus premises open to students by September 2020, the students would be able to physically join the courses. If that’s not the case or if there is another reason for which some students are not able to come to France to start their courses (lockdown, travel restrictions, visa delays..), that is when the activation of the online offer of courses and services would take place. Those students are obliged to come to France and be present for the courses on-campus, as soon as their situation allows so.